Published: Thursday, July 31, 2014 at 5:04 p.m.

Last Modified: Thursday, July 31, 2014 at 5:04 p.m.

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson blasted the Chinese makers of faulty drywall this week, urging President Barack Obama and Congress to take more steps to protect Florida homeowners affected by the product.

Nelson's speech comes amid a new lawsuit from homeowners who say bad Chinese drywall wrecked their homes. It also follows a U.S. district judge's order two weeks ago that held Taishan Gypsum Co. Ltd. in contempt of court for ignoring court proceedings over damage caused by the company's drywall.

The tainted material was used to build hundreds of Southwest Florida homes during the region's housing bubble in the mid-2000s, creating a slew of reported health problems and leaving millions of dollars' worth of replacement damage.

Nearly decade into the crisis, homeowners in this area continue to find new cases of bad drywall in their properties.

“The Chinese government has had continued and repeated failure to participate in the legal process of this country to help the homeowners who were severely impacted by this problem with Chinese drywall,” Nelson told federal lawmakers. “Taishan thumbed its nose at everybody.”

“What does this say about our policy of letting Chinese manufacturers import pretty much any kind of consumer product they want into this country without mandating any legal recourse if something goes wrong?”

The issues surrounding Chinese drywall made their way to the Gulf states in the early 2000s, the result of the homebuilding boom and repairs from a series of devastating hurricanes that depleted U.S. supply.

The material is known to have the foul smell of rotten eggs. It can corrode metal piping, ruin air-conditioning units and has drawn reports of respiratory problems and other health concerns from those who have lived with it.

Thousands of Floridians were forced to walk away from their homes as a result.

“They are stuck,” Nelson said. “They cannot sell their house because who is going to buy a house with defective Chinese drywall. They cannot get a loan for their house. What would have happened if they didn't have a job and were stuck with the house and everybody was getting sick in the house?”

Even today, the problem continues to surface in Southwest Florida.

There are 67 known homes still grappling with unremedied Chinese drywall in Sarasota and Manatee counties. That was down from the 97 tainted properties on the 2013 tax rolls, according to a recent Herald-Tribune review of property data.

New problems were offset by work done to install safer material.

But during the past 16 months, inspectors found new cases of bad drywall in 37 local homes, more than any other time since the Great Recession.

By comparison, there were only a dozen new cases found from 2011 to 2012.

<p>U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson blasted the Chinese makers of faulty drywall this week, urging President Barack Obama and Congress to take more steps to protect Florida homeowners affected by the product.</p><p>Nelson's speech comes amid a new lawsuit from homeowners who say bad Chinese drywall wrecked their homes. It also follows a U.S. district judge's order two weeks ago that held Taishan Gypsum Co. Ltd. in contempt of court for ignoring court proceedings over damage caused by the company's drywall.</p><p>The tainted material was used to build hundreds of Southwest Florida homes during the region's housing bubble in the mid-2000s, creating a slew of reported health problems and leaving millions of dollars' worth of replacement damage.</p><p>Nearly decade into the crisis, homeowners in this area continue to find new cases of bad drywall in their properties.</p><p>“The Chinese government has had continued and repeated failure to participate in the legal process of this country to help the homeowners who were severely impacted by this problem with Chinese drywall,” Nelson told federal lawmakers. “Taishan thumbed its nose at everybody.”</p><p>“What does this say about our policy of letting Chinese manufacturers import pretty much any kind of consumer product they want into this country without mandating any legal recourse if something goes wrong?”</p><p>The issues surrounding Chinese drywall made their way to the Gulf states in the early 2000s, the result of the homebuilding boom and repairs from a series of devastating hurricanes that depleted U.S. supply.</p><p>The material is known to have the foul smell of rotten eggs. It can corrode metal piping, ruin air-conditioning units and has drawn reports of respiratory problems and other health concerns from those who have lived with it.</p><p>Thousands of Floridians were forced to walk away from their homes as a result.</p><p>“They are stuck,” Nelson said. “They cannot sell their house because who is going to buy a house with defective Chinese drywall. They cannot get a loan for their house. What would have happened if they didn't have a job and were stuck with the house and everybody was getting sick in the house?”</p><p>Even today, the problem continues to surface in Southwest Florida.</p><p>There are 67 known homes still grappling with unremedied Chinese drywall in Sarasota and Manatee counties. That was down from the 97 tainted properties on the 2013 tax rolls, according to a recent Herald-Tribune review of property data.</p><p>New problems were offset by work done to install safer material.</p><p>But during the past 16 months, inspectors found new cases of bad drywall in 37 local homes, more than any other time since the Great Recession.</p><p>By comparison, there were only a dozen new cases found from 2011 to 2012.</p>